Sheet feeding and stencil printing apparatus



Feb. 12, 1935. H. P. ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTINGAPPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 24, 1932 ATTORNEY 1935. H. P.ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Oct. 24, 1932 R. Y O 0 E WW 2 N I l|\[ ma m v f m m mw m I W .mnmm m ITIM. .Q N um M a m n" a. m? V, w 5 Q W k n 1---- &.N h\ 3 hmwmQS@n J ELIQM r x a M w Q mm W Feb. 12, 1935.

, H. P. ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Filed Oct.-24, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 6 Harman 70m ATTORNEY Feb. 12, 1935. H. P.ELLIOTT SHEE T FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Shet 4Filed 001;. 24, 1952 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 12, 1935 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFI FE v SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Harmon.1". .Elliott, Watertown', Masai, .assi'gnor' to ElliottAddressingMachine Company, a corporation: of Massachusetts- V v vApplication October 24, 1932, Serial No. 639,171

11 Claims. (Cl. 101-49) This invention relates to stencil printingapparatus of the. character shown in. my Patent No. 1,909,910, grantedMay 116,. 1933-, and com prises certain. modifications thereof whichenable it to. print. in column form ation. on a sheet of paper a. seriesof names, or other legends, separately out in. a. series of cardstencils. such as have been heretofore used in addressing ma chines.

The present invention accomplishes the same result described in anotherofv my patents No. 1,909,911, granted May 16, 1 933, hutina simpler way.

The underlying principleof. operation of. the

' present invention isthe feeding of the card stencils sidewise to theink. impression mechanism and at the same time feeding. the sheet to: beprinted step by step through the printing. zone in the same. direction,so that the legends printed by successive s'tencilswill appear on theprinted sheet in column formation,ias isusual in making out payrolls,for instance.

In the preferred. embodiment. of theinvention here shown the inkimpression 'mechanismcomprises a pair of oppositely rotating platensectors, one of which carries ink, and the feed motion for the sheetbeing printed isapplied'to it during the printing. operation by said.sectors, one of which has'such a short are of engagement. with saidsheet as to. bear on little more of the. sheet surface than is necessaryto receive. the printed line or lines and to. provide the desiredspacing between said lines, and. this feeding. action is rendereduniform and accurate'by means of a pawl and ratchet mechanism.cooperating with a-spring normally tending to pull said. sheet. backwardagainst said pawl and. ratchet every time such sheet is released by thefurther rotation ofv the platen sectors after a printing operationhasbeen performed.

After'such sheet printing has been finished, the apparatus can be easilyrearranged to. feed card stencils end to end through the printing. zone,which is the most convenient: arrangement for address printing on postcards. or other. articles.

The best form of apparatus atv present known to me embodying myinvention. is illustratedin the accompanying four. sheets ofdrawings inwhich Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus with parts brokenaway. i

Fig. 2 is a plan viewof the same portions of the apparatus. 7

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail crosssection taken on lines 3'--3 of Fig. 2and Fig. 4 is anenla-rgeddetail longitudinal section taken on line 4-4of Fig. 3 showing the stencil feedmechanism.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the clamp for the rear end of thesheet being printed, parts being broken awaya'nd othersshown in section.

Figs. 6, '7 and 8' areenlarged' detail longitudinal sections all taken0nline 6-6 of Fig. 2 showing the relative positions of parts of theapparatus at different stages of the sheet feeding operation. v

Fig. 9 is an enlarged dfetail cross section through the pawl and ratchetmechanism taken on line 9-9 of Fig.1, and j Fig. 1'0 is a similar view"showing the ratchet mechanism disabled or tripped.

Fig. 11 is a detail cross. sect'on on line 11- -11 of Fig. 2:

Fig; 12' isv a detail plan View with parts broken awayshowing theapparatus adjusted to feed the series of' card stencils endwise alongthe guides instead ofsidewise, as in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic sectional detailof a modification. rThroughout the drawings lik'e reference characters indicate like parts.By far the larger part of" the apparatus here shown is substantially thesame as" that of my above noted Patent No. 1,909,910; and therefore neednot be described in detail. It comprises a supporting frame 51,supported'bylegs,;twoofwhich are shown in Fig.

1 at52, 52-, and on which arej'ournaled two rotating platen sectors 3and 5- connectd together by gearing mounted inhonsing' 6'7 and indicatedin broken lines at 6 in Fig. 1, so as ,torota-te in opposite directionswhen"actuated by hand crank 1 fast on shaft2' to which the upper platensector 3' is releasably clutched so that it can be readily taken offsaid shaft and another platen sector of different width offaces'ubs-tituted for it.

4 is theink applying roll of an inking mechanism for; distributing "aneven layer of ink to the curved surface of platen sector 3'. This rollis a part of afloatinginking unit pivoted on the shaft '7" supported ina housing-carried by the main frame and protected by cover 8, theconstruction. being similar; with the exception of certain detailshereinafter to bepointed out, to: that of the inkingapparatus shown anddescribedin a third Patent No. 1,922,533, granted August 15, I933.

The stencils 50 for usewith the ink impres t;

si'on mechanism are stacked in magazine 61- with their sides parallel tothe shaft 2 so that they can be fed sidewise between the platen sectorsalong theoppositely'groovedguides 9 and 99.

, the sector ofthecircle represented by the A sheet supporting plate 10is mounted on the table top 66 of the main frame 51, and held by screws70 in such position that the forward end of a sheet of paper 13 carriedthereby may project between the platen sectors 3 and 5. A clamp isprovided for holding the rear end of such sheet of paper, the housing 11for said clamp sliding on rack rod l4 which extends along one side edgeof plate 10 and is revoluble in perforated lugs 15, 15, carried thereby.16 is a long coiled tension spring one end of which is connected at 17to the clamp housing '11 and which passes around the loose pulley 18journaled" at the outer end of plate 10 and'has its other end anchoredto the main frame at 19. The tension of spring 16 normally tends to pullback against the stop sleeve 20 on the rear end of rack rod 14 unlesssaid clamp housing is held in some advanced 21 carried by it engagingone of theteeth 22 on the rack rod 14.

The means for feeding the bottomstencilf 50 out of the magazine 61 andbetween the sectors 3 and 5 comprise the slide ,41 bearing the feed claw43 and mounted to slide on guide bar 99, as shown in my said Patent No.1,909,910, plus a supplemental stencil pusher 47 which has side lugs 53,53, which slide on the upper surfaces of the edges of stencil guides'9ancl 99. The upper surfaces of these lugs are inclined as shown in Fig.4 to slide under the next stencil in the stack and lift the rear edge ofsaid stencil slightly. Said pusher also has two downwardly extendingpins 48, 48, which, engage holes in the portion of slide 4l'whichprojects inwardly beyond the inner edge of stencil guide bar 99, andalso has projections 49, 49, along its front edge which extend under thebottom stencil. The slide 41 is held on guide bar 99.by .pin.44 passingthrough a slot 45 in said'bar and spring 46 surrounding said pin. It isfurther guided b'y ears 42 which engage the outer edge of bar 99. slideand supplemental pusher 47 are Ire'ciprocated by connectingr'od"39fpivoted at one'le'nd on pin 40 on slide 41 and atthe other endon crank disc 38 on theend of sleeve 37 which carries the upper sector3. These partsare' so pro portioned that the bottom stencilis'pushedinto the space 26 betweenthe'cutaway portion of the platensectors when they are in the position shown in Fig. 4. As a portion ofthe .papersheet 13 also extends into that space the rotation of thesectors in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 movessaidsheet andstenciltogether toward the left. This will move the pawl 21along rack rod 14 a distance equal to. at least one of the ratchet teeth22 formed on a portion of the surface of said rod, and when the platensectors release the sheet the spring 18 will pull it backwardsufiiciently. to cause the pawl to engage the next one ofthe ratchetteeth behind itand thereby leave said sheet in an advanced position suchthatat thenext revolution of the platen sectors the lines of printingproduced by the next card stencil on said sheet will be spaced belowthelegend next before printed by a predetermined distance.

Theoretically such result might be obtained by a simpler mechanismillustrated diagram matically in Fig. 13 if the length of the arcofplaten sector 3 just equals the height of the type in the stencil plusthe spacing between lines to be stencilled, and if, in place of thespring and ratchet mechanism before described, the sheet of the curvedface of the position by reason of the pawl of paper 13 were merely heldin position on plate 10 by spring 12 which would act as a brake againstany excess feed motion of said sheet due to its inertia and also preventany displacement'of the sheet between successive printings thereon.

I have found, however, that it is diificult in practice to operate withthe platen sector reduced to the dimension above explained and that muchbetter results can be obtained if the arc ink bearing platen sector islengthened so as to give an initial step- ;by-step feed to the sheet 13considerably in excess of the net feed movement desired, and

then incorporate a lost motion mechanism in the pawl and ratchet feedingdevice so that saidpawl willbe dragged over only one tooth on the rackrod 14 and the clamp holding the sheet pulled back by spring 18 againstsaid pawl at the termination of each printing operation. This is morefully illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8. The; details ofcon'struction .ofthe preferred formof paper clamp are'illustratedin Fig.' 5 where 27indicates a vertically swinging bar hinged at one'end-tohou'sing 11 at28, as shown in Fig; 2, and having the upper surface of its other end 1inclined downwardly and outwardly as indicated at 29 to'cooperate withthefhorizontally swinging latch 30 pivoted to the housing at 31. Bar 27swings close to thevertically projecting ledge 32 formed on housing 11so that when the bar is swungdown on the rear end of sheet 'of paper 13and latched in the position shown in Fig. 5, said sheet is firmlyattached to housing 11'. An overhanging lug 33 carried by housing 11 andunderwhich latch 30 may be swung, assists in holding said latch downfirmly on bar 27 If said bar is given a slight curvature so that itsfree end is slightly'raised from plate 10 and is bent downward whenlatch 30 slides over surface 29, a very firm grip of the clampon thepaper 13'is assured. 34 is a short projecting handle forming the rearend' of latchBO by means of which it may be'swung into andout ofoperative position. I

As the stencil cards'are fed sidewise under the inkbearing sector 3 andtherelatively long lines of print matter cuttherein extendwell acrossthe sheet 13, it is especially important that the ink shall be veryevenly distributed, over the sector 3 so that equal amounts of ink willbe forced through 'each one of the stencil letters in these long lines.This in turn requires that there shall be an even deposition of ink onthe sector surface from the inking roll 4 throughout the entire width.thereof, which can only result if the inking roll 4 bears with'uniformjpressure upon sector 3 at all'points along their line ofcontact. In my before mentioned PatentNo. 1,922,533, I have shown anddescribed a construction of inking unitdesigned to secure this result bygiving the forked housing'in which the inking roll 4 is journaled aslight looseness of mounting-on its supporting hinge shaft, and applyingcam pressure to a radial projection from said-hinged housing which islocated" in the medial plane of theink roll'. This'should theoreticallyproduce uniform pressure of roll 4 on sector 3throughout the entirewidth thereof, but I have found that relying upon the automaticadjustment of the inking unit I,

essentially of the two contact setscrews 166:, and the curvedinnersurface of the perforation in lug 1431) on the forked housing143which supports the inking mechanism and swings on shaft 7 which passesthrough lug 143D. The entire inking apparatus is (as shown in my beforementioned Patent No. 1,922,533) supported by arm 141 extending from theupper end of the gear housing 67 and having the shaft '1' set in itsouter end. The inking roll 4, the ink fountain 82 and the transfer roll88, are journaled in a forked housing 143, 143a, 151, which may swingslightly about the shaft 7 which passes through the perforated lug 14312projecting upwardly from one end Shaft 145 of ink r0114. is supported infork. 146 at the extremity of the upper-portion 151 of' this housing. Onshaft '7- is alsomounted the stationary U-shaped housing 144 which isrigidly fastened on said shaft and supports. the'vertical shaft 157 bymeans of the cross pin 158. On the lower portion of this shaft 157 isswiveled the cam sleeve 161 having the cam member 167 engaging the underside of anti-friction roller 164 pivoted on the rear end of forkedhousing 143. Sleeve 161 can be rotated by handle 162 and iselasticallysupported by compression spring confined between its lower face and thehead 159 on the lower end of shaft 157.. When sleeve 161 is rotated sothat its cam 167 engages said friction roller, the inking roll 4 will beforced down upon the sector 3 below it; and by adjusting'one or both ofthe stop screws 166 which are mounted in the stationary forked housing144 so that when housing 143 is brought to a bearing on these twosetscrew ends by cam 167 the desired even. distribution of ink results(this having been accomplished by the trial and error method). continuedeven printing throughout each of the long lines stencilled'on sheet 13can be thereafter obtained;

The special mechanism for shifting the transfer roll 88 axially todistribute the ink in .transferring it from the rotary ink fountain 82to the ink roll 4 illustrated in Fig. 2 and operated. by the hand crank80: is. similar to; that shown and described in- PatentNo. 1,550,893, toSterling Elliott, granted Aug. 25, 1925, and therefore will not beherefurther explained.

The details of; the sheetfeed control mechanism are, as before stated,further shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The clamp housing 11 has anupwardly,outwardly and, downwardly bent endportion 111 which extends around therack rod 14, and in the endsof the enclosure soformed are set theperforated end plates 24 and 25 through which the rack rod 14 extends;The pawl 21 is formed on the under surface of; an elongated slug 23which rests loosely in the space within the extension 111 of the clamphousingand is guided by lining plate 35 (see Fig. 9) to slidelongitudinally thereof so that pawl 21 will be held by gravity inengagement with rack rod teeth 22. The pitch of teeth 22,, length ofslug 23 and distance between plates 24 and 25. are so proportioned withreference to the length of the arc of the curved face of platen sector 3as to cause the clamp housing and sheet 13 to be advanced one toothduring each printing cycle. The advance so obtained should, of course,be equal to the height of the type in the line to be stencilled plus thedistancebetweenlines. If, therefore, the height of the type is a quarterof an "inchand the space between lines is to be of an inch the pitch ofthe teeth 22 wouldbe of an inch. It then the length of the areofthecurved face of platen sector 3 were one inch the lost motion. be tweenpawl slug 23. and end plates 24 and; 25 should be of an inch, orslightly less. The operation as illustrated in Figss 6', .7 and 8 wouldthen be asfollows: .The. parts. havingv been left at the endof theprevious printing cycle in the position shown Fig. 6, spring,Iii-pulling the clamp housing back so that end plate-24 is in contactwith pawl slugr23i, the rotating platens will, during the next. printingoperation, pull'the. sheet 13. and clamp housingxll one. inchv to the.left into the position shown in Eigfli. The first /8 of an inch of this.travel will havetaken upithe lostmotion between the plate 25landthe pawlslug, 23 and, the last. of an inchfof such motion will have moved thepawl. that-distance, thus; causing it to slide over'the nextztooth,so-that if the pawl were at the beg-inningof theoperationinengagementwith the 6th tooth 22, asshown inEig. 6', it would be in engagementwith. the 7th tooth at the end of the operation, as shown in; Fig.Therefore when further revolution 'of-sector 3: has released the sheet13, spring16- will pull the clamp and the sheet back. of an.- inch untilthe plate. 24 again comes in contact with, thepawl slug, 23, as shownin- Fig. 8.. This leaves the sheet: -13advanced of'an inch readytoreceive; the. line to be printed from: the next stencil, which next linewill therefore be; spaced away; from. the preceding line by the. desired/8. of an inch.

After the sheet, 13 has thus been, fed through the printing; zone, step:by step, to the desired extent, it maybe returned to-its. initialposition by the operator grasping and swinging to one side the weightedhandle 36 projectingv radially fromthe revoluble rack bar 14, as shownin Figs. 9 and 10. When the handle is swungto the extent indicated inFig. 10,- the teeth 22- willv be disengaged from pawl 21 and spring; 16;will pull the clamp 11, and

the sheet held by it, back to the initial or starting position. When theweighted handle 36 is released it returns to the vertical position shownin Fig. 9 and the ratchet mechanism is again in mesh ready-forarepetition of the printing operations hereinbeforedescribed.

When the relatively'longand narrow card stencilsare fed sidewiseas-herein; described it becomes important to ensure their progress alongthe guides in positions always at, right angles to the line of saidguides, as. any considerable departure from that positionwouldtend tojam the cards in the guides. Toassist in maintaining these cards in thatposition I employ two spring friction devices. indicated generallyat,60, 60, which are located on the stencil guides on the discharge side ofthe printing: zone and serve toprevent the stencils jumping away fromthe printing mechanism loosely with the consequent possibility of theirassuming angular positions" in said guides which may result intheirbecoming jammed. As shown in Figs. 2 and 11, each of these frictiondevices comprisesa spring plate; 54 clamped to the stencil guide bar 9or 99 by means of screw 55 and prevented from rotating about. said screwby the downwardly extending flange 58 engaging the slot 59 in the uppersurface of the guide; The freeend of spring plate54 is; bent upwardlyand backwardly as shown at 56 and this backwardly bent portion has adepending sidefiange 57 which bears: withspring pressure on the uppersurface of the frame of each, stencil 50 as it passes'under it, andpresents theiproperfrictional resistance to the movement of; thestencil: so; as to prevent it jumping. awayfrom the. stencils behind itwhich are being successively: expelled from the printing zone. Theseveral stencils-which are thus held in position after having passedthe. printing zone also furnish a stop'for the next one shoved intoprinting position by the pusher plate 47. This accurate location of eachstencil in the printing zone is essential to maintain uniform linespacing. When it is desired to change the apparatus over so as to feedthe stencils endwise along the guides 9 and 99, as shown in Fig..12, thestencil guide bars 9 and 99 are brought closer together, as there shown,and this can bedone because they are supported from'horizontallyextending-bars 94, 95, which are slidingly mounted in a housing 96 (seeFig. 2). The stencil guide 9 is supported from the casting 101 whichisfastened to bar 94. .Stencil guide bar 99 is similarly supported fromcasting 98 which is fastened to slide bar 95. These bars may be held indifferent positions of adjustment by pin 105 moving vertically inhousing 96, the construction here shown being similar to that describedin detail in my before-mentioned Patent No. 1,909,910. The castings 98and 101 serve as bases for a two-part stencil magazineor similarlyadjustable structure for holding the stack of stencils 50, and the widefaced ink-bearing sector. 3 is removed when the parts are adjusted tofeed the stencils endwise and a narrowffaced ink-bearing sector 3a (seeFig; 12) is substituted, all in the manner fully described in saidpatent. The plate 10 and the sheet feed control mechanism carriedthereby can be removed by taking out the screws which hold said plate totable top 66, one of which screws is shown'at 70. -The cards orenvelopes-to be printed may then be fed in by hand or an automaticfeeding attachment may be added. I When feeding tothem'achine sheets ofpaper by hand it is almost essential that the operator stand at the backof'the :machine (i. e. the side opposite that on which the hand crank 1is located) so that he can do the feeding with" his left hand whileoperating the machine with his right hand. To make this possible thehand crank 1 is transferable to the shaft 83 of the-lower platen 5, saidshaft projecting from said other side of the machine as shownin Fig. 2.:This shaft has a depression 84 in its surface'with which the set screw85 may engage to makesure thatthe crank hangs downward when the'partsare in the position of rest shown in Fig. 4, so that the sheet canbepushed in between the platen sectors. To cause thecrankto stop in thisposition I mount its handle 86 on a sliding pin "s'lnormally held byspring 89 in the position shown -in Fig. 2, and mount a stop 81 on theleg 91 of the main frame (see Figs land 2) in suchpositionthat pin 87will strike it unless handle 86 and said pin are pulled away from.suchstop. ln operating with the crank on shaft 83'the'pin B'T'is usuallyallowed to strike stop 81 at the end of each printing cycle. Theoperator then slips another sheet of letter paper or the like betweenthe platens, pulls handle 86 toward him so that pin '87 will clear stop81, and then turns the crank through one revolution to effect a printingof that sheet, which is completed before pin87 again strikes the stop.Another reasonwhy the operator should stand in this position andtransfercrank 1 to its alternative position on the end of shaft 85 ofthe lower sector 5 projecting at theback of :the 'machine when printingsuccessive names and addresses on a series of sheets, asin thecase ofform letters, or names withother data in column formation, as in thecase of p'ayrolls,isthat inboth instances the stencils must be fedtothesectors with that by a distance less than the length of side edgein advancewhich will render such stencils readable from suchposition, asotherwise all printing on the sheets will be upside down.

If, however, postcards or envelopes are being addressed, and noautomatic feed'thereforis-employed (none being hereshown) such cards orenvelopes when fed by hand can best be handled by still feeding thestencils sidewise to the sectors, as before, and pushing each card orenvelope endwise into the printing zone from the back side of thestencil guides, and transversely thereof. This can be most convenientlydone with the left hand while the right hand grasps the other crank, l,to operate the machine. vInthis case the stencils would be fed to thesectors with the other side edgev first, .sothat again they would bereadable from such operating position.

If, however, an automatic feed for the cards or envelopes, such as shownin my beforementioned Patent No. 1,909,910, ,is. employed, they would befed endwise,:again, but with their longer dimensions paralleltothestencil guides 9 and 99, so that the stencil must be fed in a similarway, i. e. by adjusting the machine parts as shown in Fig. 12-and usingthe stencilpusher 41, only, dispensing with ,the extension plate 47. Assectors 3 and 5 revolve in opposite, directions, the crank will beturned'in a clockwise direction ,by'the operator, in both-cases. If for'anytreason' the operator desires to produce continuous rotation of thesectors he cando this when'crank 1 is in its operative positionat theback of the machine by holding the crank handleBfi in-such position thatpin 8'7 carried therebywill clear the'stop 91.

Having describedmy invention,-I claim:

1. Ina stencil printingapparatus comprising a pair of oppositely.rotating platens, at least one of which'has across section of a sectorof a circle, means for applying ink. to the curved surface of saidplaten, and means for rotating it, the combination, with said aboverecited apparatus, of mechanism for feeding a succession of cardshaped'stencils sidewise between said platens so that any lines of typedcharacters runningjlengthwise thereof will extend parallel to. the axesof said platens, a support for. holding a sheet of paper with one endinserted between said platens so that upon rotationof the latter saidsheet will be pulled step by step between said platens a'distancesubstantially equal to the'length of the arc of said sector, andretarding means for preventing any-continued movement of said sheet dueto the momentum thereof after each release thereof by continuedrevolution of'said platen; whereby the legends cut in successivestencils will be printed in column formation on said sheet.

2. A combination such as'defined in claim 1 in which said retardingmeans comprises yielding pressure mechanism tending to pull said sheetbackward and a pawl and ratchet mechanism limiting the extent of eachsuch backward movement thereby produced. I

3. A combinationsuch asdefined in claim 1 in which said retarding meanscomprises yielding pressure mechanism tending to pull said sheetbackward, a fixed rack barjanda pawl cooperating therewith and having. alost motion connection to said sheet, whereby said sheet is left, aftereach printing operation, in a position advanced beyond its position at,the beginning of said operation said sector arc. I 1

4. In a sheet feeding device for stencil printing apparatus thecombination, with a pair of rotary platens adapted on rotation to feedstep by step a sheet of paper between them, of means for controlling thevarious stages of such sheet movement which comprise a revoluble shafthaving a series of ratchet teeth out along one of its sides, a pawlcooperating therewith and mechanism for connecting said pawl with thesheet being printed, and yielding pressure means tending to force saidpawl along said shaft in a direction to withdraw such sheet from betweensaid platens: whereby, when said shaft is held in a position to causeits ratchet teeth to be engaged by said pawl, said sheet may be held inany of the various positions to which it is advanced, but when saidshaft is rotated so as to free said pawl, the sheet is automaticallyreturned to its initial position.

5. An apparatus such as defined in claim 4 combined with a weighted armprojecting radially from said shaft tending to hold said teeth inposition for engagement.

6. The combination, with an ink impression apparatus adapted tocooperate successively with a plurality of elongated stencil cards beingfed to it, of a pair of parallel, oppositely grooved stencil guidesadjustable toward and from one another so as to support said stencilcards either at their ends or at their sides, a reciprocating claw slidemounted on and sliding along one of said guides so as to feed saidstencil cards endwise therethrough, and a supplemental stencil pusheradapted to be connected to said claw, and slide on said guides when thelatter are spaced apart so as to carry said stencil cards sidewise alongthe same; whereby said stencil cards may be fed either endwise orsidewise to said ink impression apparatus.

'7. A combination such as defined in claim 6 in which said inkimpression apparatus comprises a pair of rotating platen sectors mountedon parallel shafts, and means for applying ink to the upper sector, saidink bearing sector being detachably mounted on, and clutched to, itssupporting shaft, whereby said upper sector may be easily removed topermit its replacement by a sector with different width of face.

8. A combination such as defined in claim 6 in which said ink impressionapparatus comprises a pair of rotating platen sectors mounted onparallel shafts, and means for applying ink to the upper sector, saidink bearing sector being detachably mounted on, and clutched to, itssupporting shaft and the common tangent plane of said sectors when incontact being at least as low as the under surface of said guides;whereby said guides may be moved in over said lower sector to carry saidstencils endwise along them and said upper sector may be easily removedto then permit its replacement by a sector with a lesser width of face.

9. In a stencil apparatus the combination of a pair of revoluble platensectors one of which carries ink, a pair of oppositely grooved stencilguides adapted to conduct a series of card stencils between saidsectors, a card stencil having elongated rectangular exterior outlinesand a line of typed characters cut therein extending longitudinallythereof, means for feeding a series of such stencils successively alongsaid guides side by side with all lines of type extending parallel tothe axis of said platen'sectors, and mechanism for advancing a sheet ofpaper between said platen sectors during each printing cycle in adirection parallel to said stencil guides a distance less than thelength of the arc of the curved face of the ink-bearing sector.

10. An apparatus such as defined in claim 9 combined with frictionmembers located on said guides on the discharge side of said sectorsadapted to engage the stencils from which prints have been taken,whereby said used stencils serve as stops for accurately locating in theprinting zone the stencil next to be used.

11. In a stencil printing apparatus comprising a pair of platen sectorseach mounted on a revoluble shaft, the upper one of which sectorscarries ink and has a hand crank mounted on the end of its shaftprojecting from the front side of the apparatus, together with automaticmechanism for feeding successively a series of rectangular stencilssidewise between said sectors, the combination, with said abovedescribed apparatus of an extension of the shaft of said lower sectorwhich protrudes from the back of the apparatus, and detachable fasteningmeans for said crank adapted to engage the end of either shaft: wherebythe operator, by transferring said crank from one shaft to the other,can always conveniently operate the apparatus by turning said crank withhis right hand in a clockwise direction to any desired extent whilefacing said apparatus from either side thereof, and also read suchstencils when fed to said sectors with either side thereof in advancedposition.

, HARMON P. ELLIOTT.

